The book is conceived as an homage to Fray Francisco Morales, whose life and pioneering work, situated at the crossroads of professional history and pastoral ministry, helped build bridges between historians, traditions, and institutions in the field of Franciscan studies. David Rex Galindo, Jay T. Harrison, and Thomas M. Cohen's introduction and Morales's chapter provide valuable insights on some leading scholars' trajectories, personal links, and institutional support. The rest of the volume focuses on three main topics: a reevaluation of the primary sources generated by the order, the interactions between Franciscans and Indigenous peoples, and the missionary effort in the northern frontier of New Spain.
The authors pay special attention to the sources not as mere reservoirs of information but rather as objects whose social life, circulation, and consumption deserve to be analyzed. Karen Melvin shows how the circulation of El devoto peregrino (first published in Madrid in 1654 with...
